AquaVallis is a new nanofiber-based electropositive filter material that allows water purification by removing viruses and bacteria of size many times smaller than the average pore size of the filter.

According to the World Health Organization data, 80 % of all infectious diseases in the world are caused by unsatisfactory quality of water or poor hygiene and sanitary conditions due to its shortage. The ever-increasing deficiency in water supply will aggravate the problem and its ubiquity will lead to stable high growth of demand for water purifying devices and facilities. Recent trends in increasing the efficiency of water purification from microorganisms and other negatively charged particles have been toward the use of charge-modified filters.

 The key principle of the action of the AquaVallis filter material developed at ISPMS SB RAS is based on removal of any pathogenic germs (viruses, bacteria) through sorption and filtration on retention of high material porosity and hence high liquid flow rate (0.2-1.0 cm/s). The novelty of the filter material consists in high-speed filtration of water with complete removal (similar to microfiltration) of pathogenic germs (viruses, bacteria) of size many times smaller than the average pore size of the polymeric fiber on retention of natural water mineralization. The AquaVallis filter material holds promise for production of individual water purifiers and cartridges of water treatment systems.

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